“Are you going to step up and do what should be done or not?”
“I love her,” he pleads pathetically. “She won’t make the same mistake twice. She knows what’s what now.”
“Once is once too much. There’s no coming back from this.”
Taking out my gun, I release the safety and aim it at Clare. Her shrieks are loud enough to wake the dead. Jermaine grabs her and slams his hand over her mouth, muffling her screams.
“We’ve known each other our whole lives. Don’t…”
Cutting him off, my patience has worn out.
“Rules are rules for a fucking reason!” I bellow, spittle falling from my mouth. “You brought her in, you either put her rat-ass in a grave or I will, and you’ll join her.”
“Don’t act like you didn’t know this was coming. Anyone else would’ve been dealt with by now. You have thirty seconds to end her,” Jermaine hollers.
Tariq’s shoulders deflate and he pulls his gun from the back of his jeans. His eyes water but I feel nothing of his pain.
This is his mess, and he has to deal with it, it’s our law.
Jermaine shoves Clare forward and she stumbles over to Tariq. She latches onto his hoodie, and he wraps one arm around her and kisses the top of her head.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” he cries.
“You can’t kill me, my dad…”
A shot echoes around us and he falls to the ground with her. Her blood and brains splattered over his face, neck, and hoodie.
I meet Jermaine’s gaze and walk to the trunk. Grabbing the shovel, we’ll be here all night if we force Tariq to dig the grave himself.
I use the pent-up frustration I can’t seem to shake and make a start. Sweat pours from me as I keep going, deeper and deeper.
She can’t and won’t ever be found.
Tossing the shovel up and out of the grave, I hold my hand up and Jermaine helps haul me out. My legs feel like jello and I brace my hands on my knees to catch my breath. Tariq hasn’t moved from her side.
“Is this going to be a problem?” Jermaine asks quietly.
“I’m sure we’ll find out. We know what to do if it does.”
I take slow steps approaching Tariq. I know what we’ve made him do tonight will rock him, but rules cannot be changed and bent for him or his trashy ass girlfriend.
The streets are already filled with anarchy but withoutourrules, it’d be chaos, and that brings a new level of heat down on us. So rules are rules. And one day he’ll remember that again.
“Let her go, Tar. It’s time to finish this.”
He looks up at me and his cheeks are stained with tears. I’ve never seen him cry before. He must really have loved her. Not that I give a shit. The woman I love is locked up for something she never even dreamed of doing.
Jermaine’s patience has run dry and he hauls Clare’s lifeless body from him and drags her over to the grave. Her body lands with a thud and it rocks through Tariq. He jolts up to his feet and bounds over, yanking the shovel from Jermaine.
He fills the hole while I dust myself off. I wouldn’t have hesitated to end him if he hadn’t followed through and took her out. Loyalty and respect for the street is what gets you far in this world, friendships when rocked… doesn’t. He’s spent the last year proving our friendship wasn’t as tight as I thought it was.
When he’s done he turns to me but hangs his head. He’s covered in dirt and blood and it’s nothing he doesn’t deserve.
“If you have something to say, say it now. Once we get in the car, it’s time we get back to who we are.”
“I know the rules, but she…”
“If you say she didn’t know our ways, don’t. The only thing I want to hear is your fucking apology and that this isn’t going to be a problem going forward.”
